Beginning in the late 1950s, Alexandra undertook an extensive programme of engagements in support of the Queen, both in the United Kingdom and overseas. Taking part in roughly 120 engagements each year, she became one of the most active members of the royal family. She carried out 110 engagements in 2012, but in April 2013 she cancelled her programme due to
polymyalgia rheumatica. As of 2022, she remained listed as a working member of the royal family, attending numerous ceremonial and charitable engagements. In 1959, she undertook a major tour of Australia and attended the
Queensland Centenary Celebrations. The "Alexandra Waltz" was composed for the visit by radio announcer Russ Tyson and television musical director Clyde Collins, and was sung for the princess by the teenage Gay Kahler, who later performed under the name
Gay Kayler. In 1961, Alexandra visited
Hong Kong, including stops at Aberdeen Fish Market, Lok Ma Chau police station, and
So Uk Estate, a public housing complex. She returned to Australia in 1967 for a private holiday, during which she also carried out engagements in
Canberra and Melbourne. The
Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane is named in her honour. Alexandra represented the Queen when
Nigeria gained independence from the United Kingdom on 1 October 1960, and she opened the first Parliament on 3 October. Later overseas tours included visits to Canada, Italy,
Oman,
Hungary,
Norway,
Japan,
Thailand,
Gibraltar, and the
Falkland Islands. In 1965, she launched the New Zealand
Leander-class frigate
HMNZS Waikato at Harland and Wolff in
Belfast, Northern Ireland. She opened the Victoria-to-Brixton section of
London Underground's
Victoria line on 23 July 1971. In May 1973, she presented the
Scottish Cup to
Rangers following the
1973 Scottish Cup Final. She again represented the Queen at the celebrations marking
Saint Lucia's independence from the UK in 1979. Alexandra opened the new hospital in Harlow, Essex,
named in her honour, on 27 April 1965. The
Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust was announced by the Prime Minister,
Boris Johnson, in September 2019 as part of the government's new health infrastructure programme to build a replacement hospital. in 1977 She served as
chancellor of
Lancaster University from its foundation in 1964 until she relinquished the post in 2004, when she also accepted an honorary degree in Music. She was the first chancellor of the
University of Mauritius. Alexandra is an honorary fellow of the
Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, the Faculty of Anaesthetists of the
Royal College of Surgeons of England, the
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and the
Royal College of Physicians. She is president of
Alexandra Rose Day, founded in honour of her great-grandmother, Queen Alexandra, and was patron of
The Royal School, Hampstead. She served as president of
WWF-UK until 2011. Until its abolition in 2013, she received £225,000 per year from the Civil List to cover the cost of official expenses, although, as with other members of the royal family (except the
Duke of Edinburgh), the Queen repaid this amount to
HM Treasury. Alexandra lives at
Thatched House Lodge in
Richmond, London, a Crown property purchased on a 150-year lease from the Crown Estate Commissioners by Angus Ogilvy after their wedding in 1963. She also has the use of a grace-and-favour apartment at
St James's Palace. She is the patron of the Blackie Foundation Trust, a charity dedicated to the promotion of research and education in homoeopathy. She is also patron of the
People's Dispensary for Sick Animals; the
English National Opera; the
London Philharmonic Choir; the
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra;
Wigmore Hall; the not-for-profit housing association
Anchor; the charity Independent Age;
St Christopher's Hospice in Sydenham; Core, a national charity funding research into digestive diseases; the
Nature in Art Trust; and the
London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA), the oldest drama school in the English-speaking world. She has been patron of the
Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital in
Brighton since 1954 and of
Alzheimer's Society since 1990. Alexandra is also the royal patron of
Children and Families Across Borders (CFAB), a charity dedicated to reuniting children separated from their families. She is patron of the
Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, which received its royal style in 2012 during the
Queen's Diamond Jubilee. In her role as president of
Sightsavers UK, she visited Washington D.C. in October 2016 to attend the Neglected Tropical Diseases NGDO Network conference partnership reception. In November 2016, one month before Alexandra's 80th birthday, the Queen held a reception at Buckingham Palace in honour of her charitable work. In May 2023, she appeared alongside other working members of the royal family in photographs taken in the
Throne Room and on the
Buckingham Palace balcony following the
coronation of King Charles III, which she had attended earlier that day. In February 2024, she began using a wheelchair and attended a thanksgiving service for
Constantine II of Greece later that month. In June, she joined King Charles for a church service in the
Queen's Chapel in London, sitting beside the King to mark the chapel's 400th anniversary celebration. In April 2026, Alexandra attended a commemorative reception held to mark the
centenary of Queen Elizabeth II's birth. ==Titles, styles, honours and arms==